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Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign said in a memo Thursday that, in order to “keep pace” with the Arizona senator, Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would have to raise $200 million between now and Election Day. McCain’s camp argued that, with help from the Republican National Committee (RNC), it has more resources than the Illinois senator. Rick Davis, the titular head of the McCain campaign, said on a conference call with reporters that the campaign and the RNC combined have just less than $95 million cash on hand at the end of June, and that they have been outspending Obama in advertising by almost a 3-to-1 margin since April. “I think Obama probably made a strategic mistake by not matching our buy in June,” Davis said. While he acknowledged Obama’s awe-inspiring fundraising capabilities and the likelihood that the Illinois senator will continue to turn heads with his monthly totals, Davis did say that the McCain camp estimates that Obama will need to raise between $45-50 million a month if he wants to compete with the GOP in TV buys. Obama has long been considered the better fundraiser by far, and that seems still to be the case. However, McCain’s totals have increased steadily since he wrapped up the nomination. In addition, the RNC continues to blow its Democratic counterparts out of the water in fundraising, and has $67.8 million. Despite the widely accepted perception that Obama will raise significantly more than McCain, the McCain campaign sought to dispel that as a “myth” Thursday. In a memo that accompanied Davis's conference call with reporters, Davis wrote that “the McCain campaign currently has more resources than the Obama campaign for the battle ahead.” Davis sought to portray the McCain campaign’s decision to accept public financing as a positive, noting that “the day John McCain becomes our party's nominee [at the convention], the federal government will deliver a check to our campaign for $84.1 million.” “This money will be ready for us to spend on day one,” Davis wrote. Davis said that the public funding — combined with the estimated $110 million the RNC will have “reserved” for ground operations and the State Victory Committees’ $7 million — will leave McCain with about $212 million to spend after the Republican convention, which wraps up in early September. The Obama campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. |
